Pages

Friday, August 23, 2013

One of the unique opportunities I have attending seminary, after ten years of marriage, is discipling young men who are single or dating. One of the disadvantages, however, is not being current on the lingo.

This struck me in a recent conversation with a friend who told me he had gone out several times with a young lady and was uncertain about the status of the relationship. Curious, I asked him if he was planning on continuing to date this girl.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

"There are more slaves today than were seized from Africa in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In fact, there are more slaves in the world today than at any other point in human history, with an estimated 21 million in bondage across the globe."

Thursday, August 15, 2013

The author, Ashley Strickland, explores how online dating is becoming so popular that people aren’t putting much effort into their offline relationship opportunities. As a result, the social skills we need in order to date well are eroding.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Mara logs onto Facebook, takes a sip of coffee, and begins scrolling through her news feed. She reads about how a friend's toddler dumped an entire jar of applesauce on the floor. She snickers at a meme posted by her cousin.

And then she sees a picture that fades her smile. About 20 of her old college friends crowd around a picnic table, laughing faces posed to commemorate a summer afternoon.

If it were four years ago, Mara would have been there, too. Now the only connection she has with her one-time close Christian community is a lingering digital facade.

Sometimes she still wonders how it all happened. How could a difference of opinion between two people devastate so many relationships? How could one disagreement change her life so completely?

1. Validate Them. From all the feedback I gathered from single young men and women across the country, one thing stood out to me more than the all rest: People need validation. There is so much truth in that statement whether a person is married, single or somewhere in between. As humans, we long to be validated—to be looked upon as though we are worthy and valuable, as though our lives have meaning. Sadly, and no thanks to our society at large, many times this value gets attached to our relationship status. Those who find themselves standing alone end up feeling less than the others in some way, shape or form...